1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus that displays a status of a printing apparatus, and a control method of the data processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional printing system is generally configured of a printer capable of image output, a host computer that controls the printer and generates print data, and a communications interface that connects the printer and the host computer to one another. In a printer, various malfunctions occur. Malfunctions occurring during print processing are classified as “error status” or “warning status” depending on whether or not the print processing can be continued.
In the case where an error status has occurred, in general, the print processing of the printer is stopped, and printing cannot be continued unless the error status is resolved. In the case where a warning status has occurred, printing can generally be continued under the warning status, even if the warning status is not resolved. In the case where an error status, warning status, or the like occurs in a printer, the host computer connected to the printer generally displays the error or warning occurrence, along with a procedure for resolving the error or warning status, on a screen.
The case where the type, size, and the like of the paper set in the printer and the settings of the print data do not match can be given as an example of a warning status. In such a case, the host computer displays a warning window, and an operation selected from among stopping printing, continuing printing, or changing settings is performed (for example, see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-177218).
A mismatch between the paper of the paper feed tray selected by the printer and the paper of the paper feed tray set in the document can be given as a further example of a warning status. In general, it is possible to perform settings for specifying the paper feed tray of the printer to be used, or specifying that the paper feed tray selected by the printer is to be used, through the host computer. These settings are performed by a user via a user interface (UI) provided by the printer driver. In particular, the setting for specifying that the paper feed tray selected by the printer is to be used does not require settings to be changed by the printer driver in order to change the paper feed tray, and is therefore convenient; thus, this setting is often used. With this setting, printing is normally performed onto paper supplied from the paper feed tray selected by the printer, in the case where printing is performed from a single client computer.
However, there are also cases where the paper feed tray is specified by an application, and in such cases, the paper feed tray is used in accordance with specification information of the paper feed tray saved in the document. For example, with Microsoft Corporation's word processing program “MS Word”, the paper feed tray used for outputting a document file being edited can be specified in the “page setup” menu so that different paper feed trays are used for the first page and for the second and subsequent pages. When a document that includes such paper feed tray settings is printed, the printing is performed in accordance with the paper feed tray settings included in the document.
The specified paper feed tray (including a paper feed tray specified in accordance with selection made by the printer) is denoted in the print settings included in the print job for printing the document and is passed to the printer, in both the case of specification being performed by the printer driver and the case of specification being performed by the application.
As a result, cases can arise in which the paper feed tray selected by the printer and the paper feed tray specified in the print job are different. For this reason, there are cases where the document is printed onto paper of a paper feed tray not originally intended by the user. In such a case, problems such as paper being wasted, paper running out during printing, and the like occur. Accordingly, there is a printing system that carries out a warning display in the case where the state of a paper feed tray selection switch on the printer does not match with the paper feed tray specified in the print job.
However, the abovementioned conventional technology has the following problems. A warning window is displayed every time a warning status, paper feed tray mismatch, or the like occurs, and therefore the warning window is displayed unconditionally even in the case where, for example, the warning status occurs while printing the final page of the document data to be printed. Normally, in such a case, a user will not stop the printing, remove the warning status, and redo the printing, and thus the display of the warning window is useless.
Furthermore, in cases such as where many pages of the document data remain to be printed, a large amount of time remains until the printing finishes, and so on, even if a warning status occurs, the warning display is useless in the case where the user is not authorized to stop printing, perform printer operations, and the like. The reason for this is that the only choice the user has is to continue printing. Conventionally, warning windows have been displayed even in cases such as these.
Conversely, if the user is inexperienced with computers, he or she may blindly follow a warning displayed in the state mentioned above, and redo the printing entirely. In a case such as this, the warning display is not only useless, but is also harmful, as the warning display leads to the consumption of resources and a decrease in productivity caused by redoing the printing.